The invention relates to an electrical contact, comprising a metal plate with a slot extending from an edge of the plate, which slot separates two strip-shaped, resilient tongues from each other and serves to take up a wire with an electrically conductive core surrounded by an insulating jacket which is directed approximately perpendicularly to the plane of the plate. The slot successively comprises the following sections: a lead-in section located close to the edge of the plate, the greatest width of which is larger than the diameter of the insulating jacket, a scraper section, the smallest width of which is at most equal to the diameter of the core, a contact section, the width of which is smaller than the smallest width of the scraper section, and an approximately circular first opening at the dead-end of the slot, the diameter of which is greater than the smallest width of the contact section. The invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a contact of this kind.
FR-A-2,113,254 discloses such a contact, manufactured by stamping a slot of the required shape in a metal plate. This slot becomes narrower in steps at the site of the transition between the lead-in section and the contact section, as a result of which a sharp angle is formed, which constitutes the scraper section, which cuts through the insulating jacket when the wire is pressed into the slot. The shape of the slot is determined by the shape of the stamping die. In practice, it has been found that the angle obtained by stamping the scraper section is often slightly rounded, as a result of which the cutting through of the insulating jacket does not always take place optimally. In addition, it often happens that wires which are nominally the same have slightly different core diameters as a consequence of manufacturing tolerances. As a result the contact force, which depends on the core diameter and the width of the contact section, is not always the same. The probability of a good contact can admittedly be increased by positioning two contact devices one behind the other, as described in FR-A-2,133,254, but this entails a substantial increase in costs and does not solve the problem in every case. In addition, a separate die set must be made for each type of wire to be used in order to adapt the width of the scraper section and the contact section to the dimensions of the wire.